


Lamentalia - Amelia

by Senseability



Series: Lamentalia [2]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Choose Your Own Adventure, Eventual Relationships, F/M, Hetalia Characters - Freeform, Lamento Crossover, Lamento world mechanics, playing/reading Lamento will not be necessary
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-05-31 14:54:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19428271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Senseability/pseuds/Senseability
Summary: As a calamity called the Void creeps too close to home, two twin siblings race to the safety of Ransen, the most populated village in Sisa, hoping to meet up with friends and find a new home. However, they are violently separated along the way.Follow Amelia as she scrambles to reunite with her brother Matthew and meets some helpful (and not so helpful) personalities along the way into something bigger than she can imagine.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please read Lamentalia - Opening first.  
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/19379719

Shit! She’d been careless.

She had taken a nap up in a tree thinking it would be fine only to avoid the path of any wandering monsters. She did not expect to be ambushed by a cat.

He’s a big, gray guy; obviously some kind of bounty hunter by the look of his get up. He’s only got one large sword so he’s probably out here to hunt monsters. It’s really not a practical weapon against anything her size.

He’d tried to sneak up on her. Really, did he think it was going to work? She’d heard his claws hit the bark well before she felt the tree swaying and the vibrations from his clunky movements. More of a ground-cat, this guy, and not much of a schemer. Though, to his credit he’d recovered well from getting kicked in the face and out of the tree. Plus he had been able to draw that silly, unwieldy blade in time to block her follow up attack aimed at his neck. They’d been trading blows ever since. Well, he had to be of some caliber to make it this far out here.

She slides the hilt of her dagger down the blade of his sword as she steps closer then slips around him easily to kick at the back of his knees. Amelia smiles as the cat falls into a clumsy forward roll and jumps back to his feet some distance ahead. His tail whips side to side in frustration.

“How the hell did you fuck up, dumbass?” Yells a sharp voice from the opposite tree-line. Oh, Gray here has a friend. “Come on, just knock her out or something!”

“Shut up, she’s tougher than she looks.” Gray says calmly, not taking his eyes off of Amelia. “If you don’t like how long it’s taking, maybe you could participate.” He’s hesitating. It looks like he wants to get rid of his sword. He knows it’s hindering him but it’s also saving his life. He keeps it. Smart move.

“No fuckin’ way, you’ll damage the goods!” His friend yells back. “I told you how much money she’s gonna make us!”

Amelia’s tail twitches and her jaw sets. Her ears flatten a bit. Right. Living alone with Mattie gives her a lot of freedoms. Sometimes she forgets about the state of things in the rest of the world. Females are in increasingly short supply and some cats are scumbags.

“I don't like your friend.” Amelia says to Gray, flatly.

“I don’t either,” He says grimacing, “but he has a point.” He springs forward to resume the fight.  
  
They trade a few more blows. Honestly this isn’t too bad. It’s been a while since Amelia’s had the chance to have a good, old fashioned duel. And while Gray here isn’t exactly a push-over, she’s got the advantage. She trips him up again and nearly gets his leg in the gushy place high on his thigh before he jumps away, ears back and properly cowed.

“FUCK!” He checks his wound and lets out a heavy, relieved breath to discover he’s only been nicked. “SING you shitty sanga!! What the hell are you even here for!?”

Wait… Sanga?

“Fine, fine! Gettin’ your tail kicked by a little molly… Some touga you are. Don’t you dare even scratch her!” the other cat, apparently a sanga, grumbles as he grips a flute in his hands and raises it to his mouth.

Ah shit. This could be bad. They don't look like a pair that would be synced all that well, but even a bad pair can be enough to change things for the worse. Amelia rushes at Gray, hoping to end things before the sanga has a chance to—

The change is immediate, though. The moment the thin, fluttering notes of the sanga’s flute begin, Gray sheathes his sword and flexes his clawed fingers. Ugh. This is the first sign of a smirk she’s seen on him yet and it’s really annoying.

He catches her wrists. Alright. The sanga’s Song has enhanced his reflexes. How about this, then? She uses his grip on her as leverage to twist her body up and wrap one leg around his neck.

“What the—” Amelia begins to squeeze his neck between her thigh and calf and his words choke off.

“You were probably better off with the sword, buddy.” Amelia says. “I’m not mad that you guys are underestimating me, though.” Well, that’s a lie. She is a little bit. Gray grunts as he chokes and finally lets her wrists go.

Amelia kicks off of his chest immediately, but Gray catches her by her ankle. Shit…

— Meanwhile —

Shit. Shit. Shit. Its a touga and sanga pair. Matthew can see the skirmish through the thinning trees and his heart beats a bit louder.

They don’t look especially overpowering, and if he were in his right mind he’d be more reasonable. Think the situation through and come up with a plan, knowing Amelia can hold her own.

But he’s not in is right mind. All he can see is two invading tom-cats, one with his hands on his sister.

Before he can really stop to think about what he’s doing, he’s grabbed a sturdy, crooked branch from the forest floor and is rushing at the touga’s blind spot. The sanga makes a startled noise from somewhere to his right and the touga begins to turn to see what’s wrong but Matthew is already on him. He brings his branch down with a CRACK over the touga’s head and he’s out.

Matthew looks to Amelia where she’d landed to make sure she’s ok. She looks fine, but gives him a confused look for only a moment before she winces and jerks her head toward the retreating cat.

“Mattie! Sanga!” She yells and she’s already pulling her harmonica out. Oh shit, right. Matthew turns and sprints toward the sanga who is already well into the forest, making his escape. Ugh, he messed this up. If he gets away, their territory, home, and Amelia’s cover will be blown. But with the Void so close, does it even matter?

Despite the burst of speed Amelia’s Song had given him, the sanga manages to escape. Matthew stops and runs a hand through his hair nervously as he catches his breath. First the Void, now this?

—

“Mattie?” Amelia sees him alone up ahead as she catches up. Looks like the sanga got away, then. Mattie is hunched forward and giving off some really tense vibes.

“Hey Mattie, you ok?” She approaches him and tousles his hair lightly “It’s not too late, you know. He’ll run out of stamina before he’s out of our territory and we can track him down.”

Mattie sighs heavily and stands up straight. He looks worried. Ok, he often looks worried, especially these days, but it seems more pressing this time. He raises his hand so she can see it. She smells the tang of blood on the air and notices that it’s bandaged. That itself is nothing special but Mattie is looking at her like it means something.

“Bro? Hey.” She says. “What’s up? What are you freaking out about?”

“Void.” He says finally. Looking away from her to his injured hand. Oh. Something heavy places itself in her stomach. She knew, or she’d been told anyway, that it was only a matter of time but…

“Where? How close?” Amelia asks urgently.

“North side. Too close.” He replies. He looks back at her again. “Em, we need to get out of here. Food is scarce to begin with, and now all this.” He gestures around at the forest, attempting to indicate the situation.

Amelia is silent for a moment, letting it sink in. He’s not wrong and its not like they haven’t been expecting this to happen eventually. To be honest, she’s not sure she can survive another winter with the way things are and they have been worried about travel routes closing off. The two trespassers today are kind of a relief in that light.

“Plus, with the Void so close, I don't want to risk you getting sick.” Mattie says. Oh jeez, he actually sounds scared.

During one of his visits years ago, Gilbert had told them that the same curse that caused the Void causes a Sickness. An awful affliction that leaves cats in agonizing pain and missing body parts. They don't even rot off or anything, they just disappear into nothingness. Females die from it at nearly quadruple the rate of males. Gilbert warned them that if the Void showed up anywhere near them they needed to leave immediately. The chances of Amelia getting sick would skyrocket.

“Alright, alright.” She says as soothingly as she can muster. It’s not much, really, so she hugs her twin brother around the middle. He sighs. “Lets go home and figure it out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I had one vote for each Alfred and Amelia and I couldn’t choose for myself, so I went ahead and wrote both after all. 
> 
> Why the hell am I writing the same story twice? Well. Lamento has a world mechanic where women are scarce. When I originally thought up the idea of crossing these two mediums I only had Alfred in mind but after doing some plotting… I really wanted to be able to explore the gender dynamic in more depth. I’m sort of experimenting by writing the same story with the key difference being the protag's gender.
> 
> So yes, the plot line will essentially be the same for both, but the gender of the protag will to change the flow of the story. You'll be fine if you only choose one to follow, but if you're interested in the experiment, it might be neat to read both!
> 
> In other news, I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing with words, I am so unpracticed, lol… Mostly I feel like I’m not very good at proofing my own stuff yet. And pacing...? 
> 
> Well, hang in there. I’ll get better. And, as always, I am happy to accept pointers!
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UPDATE 7/29/19:  
> Hey all! I've started to post up in-progress chunks of the chapter I'm working on to the tumblr page that I made for this project. :D So If you're interested in seeing some WIP and/or drafty content, probably some doodles and drawings I won't put up here, and random babbling about the fic, please visit https://lamentalia.tumblr.com/
> 
> I will be taking asks directed to characters there too.

“Hey Mattie?” Amelia says awkwardly as they’re walking. Unlike Mattie she’s never been very interested in discretion and so her attempts at it often come out sounding stilted and graceless. Mattie is always, well, _usually_ better at that kind of thing. However, something bothers her about his actions during the earlier altercation. “Uh. So… What happened to Gilbert’s Rule Number 1 back there?” She asks. “I mean, I could’ve taken the touga, you know, and it’s not like you to be so—”

His face and ears crumple into a wretched look. Oh, ouch, that’s what she was afraid of. She backpedals quickly.

“Hey! No, I’m not blaming you, bro! You’re just… usually more cool-headed than that? What I’m trying to say is are you ok?” She’s kicking herself inside, but Mattie seems to understand what she means. He always does, even when she can’t express herself to save her life. He gives her a tired but, thankfully, less self-flagellating look.

“Sorry, Em.” He says and takes a beat to continue. “I don’t know what happened.” He sighs, yet again. “I should have taken the sanga out first but… Well, I saw that guy grabbing you and I guess I just… reacted.” He shrugs and looks genuinely perplexed. Amelia can sympathize.

“Yeah, ok, I get that.” Amelia says, considering how the scene must have looked to an onlooker. “I guess I might have done the same thing if it were you.” Mattie rolls his eyes and finally smiles a bit.

“Ugh… Thanks, Em. That makes me feel worse.” He says. Amelia shoves him.

“Jerk!” Amelia laughs. She headbutts his arm in sisterly fashion, affectionate but not too gently. Mattie’s too tall to return the gesture of a head butt when they’re walking side-by-side, or rather, Amelia’s too short. It’s no fair, really. They’re supposed to be twins. Why can’t they be the same height? Instead he chuckles and musses her hair in return.

“I don't know…” Mattie repeats after a moment of silence. “I guess I’m just really tense with everything going on, eh?.” Its Amelia’s turn to roll her eyes.

“Mattie, you take on too much responsibility and you’re not very good at it. You gotta stop worrying about everything so much.” She says. Mattie’s face tells her he has some complicated emotion running through his head. “I’m not saying there’s nothing to worry about, obviously,” she shrugs, “but not everything can be helped, you know? We just gotta keep moving.”

“Mm.” He says noncommittally. There’s still something rattling around in his head that he’s not saying to her. Well, she knows he’ll think about it at least.

★

After an anxious hike, Amelia and Matthew arrive. Amelia’s first instinct is to relax as the sunny meadow where they live comes into view. They stop for a moment to take it in.

Amelia feels it’s different somehow, as though she is seeing it through a perspective she didn’t have before. She feels the irony in her telling Mattie to keep moving earlier. It’s just hit her that this will be the last time she visits this place. The home she and Mattie grew up in; the home they woke up in, ate breakfast in and left this morning to patrol their territory as they always have done. Until today.

She scans the scene as if to commit it to memory.

It’s a small meadow full of autumn wildflowers and surrounded by forest that has just begun to change colors. Standing still, they can hear the distant sound of sea water crashing against the rocky cliffs of the northwestern coast of Sisa. Amelia wonders sadly if that’s been swallowed by the Void too.

Just off center of the meadow is an old, gnarled tree that somehow took root atop a rocky outcrop. Its roots twist down over the sides of the bedrock and hide a crevice in the ground that is large enough for a cat to climb through but small enough to miss unless you stand on top of it. Amelia and Mattie don't need to see it to know it’s there; it is the entrance to their home.

Amelia’s heart clenches painfully and she and Mattie find each other’s hands at the same time. Mattie’s hand is a little too cold. Hers is probably a little too hot.

Do they really have to leave? Things are suddenly going way too fast…

But Amelia looks at Mattie and sees that he is hesitating, too. Well, if they must leave, at least they’ll be together. She pulls on Mattie’s hand and walks with him to their house. They need to pack.

  
☆

_Sunlight filters in through the crevice in the ceiling. The floating dust motes beneath it look like tiny, moving stars. She follows the motes with her eyes for a moment before trying to catch them in her small, uncoordinated hands. She peeks into her cupped hands each time she thinks she’s caught one but never finds one there. It perplexes her and makes her more determined…_

_She hears a soft, musical hum coming from the direction of the stove._

_It’ s Mama._

_She turns around hoping to see Mama, but Mattie is sitting at the big wooden table, drawing, and is blocking her view. She jumps a few paces sideways, craning her neck._

_And one more jump._

_There’s Mama!_

_She loves Mama’s humming. She runs, singing along, to Mama and Mama turns and smiles down at her…_

☆

Mattie takes a stack of Guiding Leaves from a basket near the entrance and gives half of them to Amelia. There is a shallow bowl on a shelf beside them that is still full of water from the morning. Mattie drops a leaf into the water. After a moment it begins to glow and the two descend the short staircase into the main living area of their home.

They walk about the room dropping leaves into the bowls of water placed in each corner of the room and put the remainder of their leaves into a large bowl on the wooden table in the center of the room. Gradually the room fills with soft green light.

Amelia looks around slowly, noticing all the things she takes for granted in daily life. The space is not too big, nor too small. The stove and table remain the same as they ever were since before she can remember.

There’s a barrel for water and several others for storing food stacked in one corner of the room. Mattie has a couple of jars of his sap reduction sitting on a shelf near the stove, which he is quite proud of. As he should be; that stuff is really, really tasty.

Her attention moves to the opposite side of the room where there are several shelves they’d installed to put the books left behind by their mother and gifted to them by Gilbert. She moves closer to touch them and wonders whether they could spare the space and the weight of them in their travel packs.

☆

  
_“’Long, Long ago, Two Canes were the cleverest of all life in the land. They spoke several languages and used their tools and intelligence to make whatever things they wanted._

_They could fly through the sky or burrow underground—’”_

_“WOW! They fly??” Amelia asks, taking a break from “grooming” Mama’s glossy, black tail._

_“_ We _live underground.” Mattie said quietly, sounding dubious._

_“Yes, they did fly.” Mama said with a patient smile, lowering the book she was reading to look at each kitten. “And Mattie, this house was built by Two Canes many, many years ago. This place is very special and ancient.”_

_Mattie’s ears straighten in shock. He peers around the room as though looking for some hint of Two Canes left behind._

_“Issat why the rock walls look funny, Mama?” Amelia asks._

_Mama’s brown-skinned hand pats her on the head and she gives her a wide smile as if giving her a reward for doing something very good._

_“That’s right Emma,” Mama then pats the smooth, cool wall beside her. “Only the Two Canes could make something like this.”_

_She returns to the book._

_“Now then… ‘they could even spend many days at sea. They excelled at making art and music.—’”_

_“Mama n’ me make good music!!” Amelia says excitedly. Mattie looks disappointed so she adds, “And Mattie is good at making drawin’s!” He perks up._

_Mama smiles and continues._

_“’The ancestors of the Ribika were Cats that obeyed Two Canes who were second only to the gods and could have been called gods on earth…’”_

_“Where did the Two Canes go?” Amelia asks. “Why aren’t they here anymore?” The concept of gods was still a bit fuzzy to Amelia, though she knew they were supposed to be amazing beings._

_“Well…” Mama hesitates. “We don’t know what happened. We only know that they disappeared long ago.”_

_How mysterious! Amelia imagines them flying so far into the sky that maybe they got lost and couldn’t find their way back._

_“Mama, why are we called Ribika?” Mattie asks with his head to the side, like he does when he’s thinking a lot._

_“We were named after the goddess Ribika who gave birth to the first of our kind.” Mama replies, smiling at Mattie as she did to Amelia earlier. “Before her, our ancestors walked on four legs and were much smaller and less intelligent than we are today.” Mama says._

_Amelia tries to imagine such a creature, but it looks very silly. Mattie still has his thinky face on._

_Mama laughs softly and her long, straight black hair shifts as she picks the twins up. “Alright, that’s enough for tonight. Time for bed you two.”_

☆

  
Amelia lifts the book to her chest.

She and Mattie have precious few memories of their mother. Most of the memories they do have are foggy and dreamlike; so delicate that she fears they could disappear.

She decides to take the book with her and grabs the one about the stars that Gilbert gave her, too.

Their mother passed away years ago when they were still very small kittens. They don't remember anything of her death except that she was ill for a time and then gone one day. They do not recall how long they were alone together after that, somehow surviving on what they could find in the house and in the meadow. If Gilbert hadn’t stumbled upon them one day, they certainly wouldn’t have survived.

Amelia grabs a pack from her and Mattie’s room and puts the two books in it. Mattie is in here too. If he has any concerns about the practicality of bringing books along, he keeps them to himself. Amelia notices he’s already got the jar of sap reduction sticking out of his bag. Perhaps that has something to do with it. Amelia smiles at him knowingly and continues packing.

★

“So… now what? Do we go ahead with our original plan?” Amelia asks. Anxiety is sadly dulling the rare pleasure of her satiety.

They’re sitting at the wooden table; bags packed and stomachs fuller than usual. After all, as small as their food stores are for a winter, it’s too much to carry all at once. They may as well eat as much as they want. Plus, they’ll need the extra energy for the trip and their goal is to end up in a place where they can find food, anyway.

Leaving home will be a moot point, otherwise. Amelia grimaces at the thought.

“Yeah, it’s our best bet.” Mattie unfurls the map that had been stuffed in his pack. “We only know where Gilbert and Ludwig are.” Mattie points to the center of the map where there is a city labeled ‘Ransen’.

Amelia nods.

Ransen is the biggest city in Sisa and where Gilbert and his younger brother Ludwig live. The two of them have told the twins everything they know about Ransen.

It’s supposed to be huge, with giant Two Canes ruins and hundreds, maybe even thousands of cats from all over; even cats from abroad! Amelia can hardly imagine so many cats living in close proximity; apparently no one there bothers much about territories.

Most amazing of all, though, is that the Void has never shown up anywhere near the city and there has never been a breakout of the Sickness. Food is plentiful and monsters are few. Gilbert had told them they are welcome to stay at his place if they ever needed to leave home.

This was two years ago, though. There’s no telling what has happened in that time… It’s still worth traveling to as they have no better options.

“According to what Gilbert said last time he was here, the Void was closing out the forest North East East of here,” He points to the area. “Down through the area Southeast of us.” His claw tip gently traces the forest down in a line that effectively cuts off a direct route to Ransen.

“So, we’ll have to go to the South.” Amelia says. “We may want to account for some expansion and hook a little southwest before turning east.” She traces her own line down, curving westward through a couple of small villages and then across, heading east to Ransen. Conveniently, there appears to be a river that follows this path partway. Mattie nods slowly, concern showing in his ears and his furrowed brow.

“Yes, but we should try to avoid those villages, if possible.” He says. Amelia blinks at him.

“What? Why?” She asks, baffled. “If we have to go south anyway, we may as well. They might have information we could use.”

“They’re also on the edge of Sisa” Mattie replies pointedly. “They will be hurting for resources like we are, if they’re still there, and you remember what Gilbert said about the outlying villages, right?”

She vaguely remembers Gilbert saying something…

“They’re unfriendly and territorial, even to passersby.” Mattie says, rolling his eyes.

Ah. Yes. She forgot about that.

“Ok, ok. So we’ll avoid the villages.” She says waving her hands at Mattie. She picks up her coat and shrugs it on. “Think we’re ready to go now?”

Mattie sighs, taking another sweeping look across their house. Amelia follows his gaze. They’re leaving so much behind… They knew this day would come but the forewarning gives them no solace in practice. She finds herself sighing too.

“Yeah. It’s not like it’s going to get any easier, eh?” Mattie says donning his coat and lifting his pack onto his shoulders. “The sooner we get out of here, the safer.”

Amelia nods and grabs her own pack and her sadness is soon overlapped with excitement. She’s never traveled so far, before, and she can only imagine the possibilities.

★

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whooaarrg. So much exposition! It was kind of a drag to write. I'm working on Alfred's chapter next, but I wanted to get this one up cause I feel like I've been staring at it too long. 
> 
> For the time being I think I will continue to work on both Amelia and Alfred's chapters at the same time/one after the other. It seems easiest to do while the scene is still fresh. 
> 
> Please note: All book quotes and lore in the flashback are more or less ripped and/or paraphrased from the English translation of the Lamento game, since I'm working with them as they are and that book is one that actually exists in the game story. I dumbed the wording down, though, so bitty twins could understand.
> 
> Thanks for the kudos guys!! Pointers/Crit/Comments always welcome! :D


	3. Chapter 3

★

“Mattie…”

“No.”

“But, Mattie, we can just—”

“No! Shh, let me think!”

Amelia rolls her eyes. Mattie has become Insufferable and he’s really getting on her nerves. She’s not gonna be able to take much more of it. She sighs and looks out over the cause of Mattie’s distress.

From their vantage point atop a small, wooded foothill, she looks back up at the mountain range rising to the west, then down to the village sprawled across the mountainside, the foot and well into the surrounding forest.

When they set out, they had been trying to aim for the swath of uninhabited land that should have been located between the end of the Void wall and this village. Alas, such a thing did not exist.

After a day and a half of traveling south, they had found the Void wall that stood between them and a direct route to Ransen. They had to check the surrounding foliage and blades of grass every so often using loose bits of their fur and hair to avoid injury. Needless to say, it had been tedious. Then, with step one completed, they set about the harrowing task of skirting around it.

As they traveled farther west, tiny houses that had been swallowed up by the Void came into view from where they walked; they had even passed by a skeletal corpse lying yards away from one of these houses. Perhaps they were a traveler who had returned unwittingly to a Void ridden home… Amelia certainly did not screech in terror and cling to Mattie for the next half mile, nor did her fur refuse to lay normally for another mile after that.

Ugh. She’s gonna have skeleton nightmares.

When they finally reached what seemed to be the end of the Void wall, it was Mattie’s turn to be horrified. The number of houses had gradually increased and there were fresh signs of marked territory everywhere. Apparently, the Void had spread even farther than expected.

Amelia suggested they just cut through the territories real fast, but Mattie refused. So, they continued west, staying clear of the territories until they finally found the village proper, set up against a mountain range. A mountain range that blocks them from going any farther west.

In the dimming sunlight, several torch fires can be seen dotting the mountainside as far up as they can see. Amelia muses that the view would be really pretty if circumstances didn’t make it eerie and foreboding instead.

Welp, sure is inhabited, all right. No vacant land in sight.

Amelia notices a large stream pouring down the mountain. It cuts through the center of the village where a small hub is located at the base.

‘Must be where their chief and other important cats live.’ Amelia thinks idly while Mattie pours over the map. Again. She huffs impatiently, she’s had about enough of this…

“ _Mattie_! We. Are. _Wasting. Time_!” Amelia hisses through her teeth. “We are _not_ going around or into those mountains! We don't know what’s lying beyond them and I’m not about to backtrack when we find another impasse! And! Either way?! It _would take weeks_!”

Mattie levels a stubborn moue at her but at least he’s not refuting her anymore. She glares adamantly back at him.

“Look. The villagers will be asleep soon. It will be way easier to cut through while its dark.” She points away from the village, back toward where the houses are sparser. “We can avoid attention by walking the boundary lines of the territories over that way.”

Mattie stares at the map for another tense moment before he lets out a harsh, disgruntled breath.

“Fine.” He folds up the map and puts it away. “I have such a bad feeling about this, Em. But you’re right. Hiking up or around the mountains puts us at too much of a disadvantage.”

“You mean it’s a death trap.” Amelia does her level best not to look smug. She fails, but it’s getting darker and Mattie is busy looking around at their surroundings, so its fine. Huh. He’s been looking over his shoulder a lot.

“Bro? Whats up?”

He turns back to face her, ears swiveling restlessly, brow furrowed.

“I don’t know, I just… can’t shake this feeling. Like something’s been watching us for a while.” Amelia’s eyebrows shoot up along with all her fur.

“And you’re just _now_ telling me this!?” Amelia’s returns incredulously.

Her spatial awareness is not bad, by any means, but Mattie’s is practically supernatural. She long ago came to terms with the fact that she would never manage to get the drop on him, even if her life depended on it. And growing up under Gilbert’s training, it often did. Long story short: if Mattie is sensing something, it is absolutely cause for concern.

“ _Shh_!” Another pause. “Well… I usually don’t have trouble finding lurkers, you know? This is more of a... Erm. Like, not really a physical presence?”

Amelia gapes openly in horror at her brother— whom she loves dearly— and punches him real hard in the arm.

“OW—!” Mattie covers his mouth before Amelia can do it for him. “—ffffff _—uck_ , Em! What the hell??”

“ _Please tell me you_ _’re joking and do not scare me like that_!!” She says through chattering teeth. Mattie rubs his arm, grimacing, and she doesn’t feel even a little bit bad about it. Mattie’s not usually one for pranks but it’s better if he’s just making a bad joke than… the alternative. G-ghosts. Mattie swears they don't even exist for fucks sake, why would he say such a thing?!

Mattie growls quietly in frustration.

“Look, it’s probably just me.” He says rubbing his face with his hands. “I know, I’m too wound up and I’m over-thinking everything. Please _forgive_ me if I’m a little paranoid about the safety of _my sister_ , okay?!”

Amelia stares at him. This is the closest Mattie’s gotten to acknowledging the monster in the room; something that has been niggling at her for the past couple of days. Months? Years, maybe. Mattie’s been getting weirder and weirder about taking responsibility for her. He’s usually pretty subtle about it and it’s been hard to know how to react or even address it up until now.

Growing up, Mattie had been the crybaby who needed Amelia to scare away the baddies or get him unstuck from trees; this unsolicited role-reversal didn’t sit well with her. Yes, females are endangered and all, but that doesn’t mean he gets to ignore her!

“Well… it’s good to think things through! We both know I don't do it enough, so I appreciate that you have my back, but…” Amelia takes a deep, steadying breath. “But we work better as a _team_ , bro. You’re so busy worrying about me these days, you’re hardly even listening to me anymore. I think you’re forgetting that I have your back too.”

She glares at him earnestly and this time Mattie is staring at her, slack jawed. Then he lowers his gaze, looking ashamed.

“Fuck.” He breathes, finally. He lifts his face to look at her again. “I’m sorry, Em…”

He’s got his insecure, crybaby face on again. She hasn’t seen it in a while. He’s probably been avoiding letting her see him like that. She hugs him around the middle and rubs her forehead against his chest. He seems immensely relieved as he hugs her back.

“Stop trying to handle all the hard stuff alone, you big dummy. I’m a big, strong molly and I can totally take care of myself.”

He snorts into her shoulder when she calls herself “big,” the jerk, but he doesn’t say anything else. They hug for a little longer, both glad to have broken through that awful, tense atmosphere that was wedging itself between them. She pulls away just enough to look up at him.

“What’s even got you so turned around, dude?”

“Um…” He’s quiet for a moment. “It’s… Well I–” He frowns awkwardly. “Listen, now isn’t really the best time to get into it… I’ll tell you once we’re in Ransen?”

Amelia’s eyes harden again, and he shakes his head in a placating manner.

“No, I mean it! It’s just, Gilbert told me about some stuff last time he was out? And yeah, it freaked me out I guess, but I think I didn’t totally understand what he said… So, I think Gilbert or Ludwig would be better at explaining it?”

Now Amelia squints at him dubiously.

“Augh! Stop looking at me like that, Em.” Mattie pulls away, flustered and a little red for some reason? “Let’s just get going, eh? It should be dark enough now.”

Ooookaaaay. What the heck was that about?

In the spirit of enjoying their moment of bonding, however, Amelia lets it go for now and follows Mattie’s lead. They head off to find a good boundary line to follow.

★

High up in the air above them, an amused chuckle emerges from a night-breeze, but there is nothing there to see.

★

Later that night Mattie and Amelia are forging deep into marked land. They hadn’t dared to speak since they entered, and both are moving efficiently as they search through the trees for markings and trace along the borders between territories.

Something just doesn’t feel quite right, though. Amelia can tell that Mattie’s already caught on to it. They’re stopped temporarily so that Amelia can inspect some day-old markings on a tree while Mattie keeps a lookout.

Amelia sends Mattie another meaningful look and a nod. This one is also made directly over someone else’s mark. It has recently been overtaken. They’ve passed a lot of these since entering.

It’s not uncommon for territory to shift, so they’ve been told. Their own territory is rarely visited by cats looking to settle and they’ve been successful in dispatching troublemakers, so the twins do not have any personal experience with losing land to others. But for territorial cats who live near each other, ground is often lost and gained regularly.

The weird thing is… So far, the scent of each overtaken mark has been very weak, as though the previous owners hadn’t been in their territories for days before the new marks were made. It’s like the territory wasn’t won by fight, but instead abandoned and later claimed. If it were just one territory like this it wouldn’t be so strange, but they’ve been by several of these now.

Not only that but they’ve passed by a few houses too, none of which have shown any signs of life. Sure, it’s nighttime and their occupants could be sleeping, but there’s something telling in the excess of forest debris cluttering their roofs and entryways. Fragments of broken clay littered the area around one of the houses and yet another had a door hanging off its hinges.

Amelia is properly unsettled. What the hell has happened to these cats?

They walk for a while longer before Mattie stops abruptly in front of Amelia. She nearly asks him what’s wrong before she lifts a hand to cover her mouth, reminding herself not to make any unnecessary noise. Instead she watches his ears twitching and tracking sounds that haven’t reached her yet.

She stands as still as she can and focuses. Her heart skips a beat.

She can hear them. Footsteps. A lot of them. And rustling foliage.

Somewhere up ahead there are several cats moving together as a group.

Amelia looks up at Mattie again, intent on communicating with him somehow. Mattie looks back at her, ears flat against his head and fear plastered across his face.

It’s weird how Mattie’s clear distress can calm Amelia’s nerves better than anything. She pats his back and steps forward slightly to hear better.

The group is certainly moving closer but not in their direction. It seems more like they’re gathering at a spot up ahead. After a moment she can hear voices. Loud voices.

She looks up at Mattie again and jerks her head to the side, indicating that they should veer off course and walk around them. Mattie looks at her like she’s crazy. She rolls her eyes.

“Look,” she speaks in a low, quiet tone. “They’re making so much noise up there, they’re not going to hear us as long as we stay far enough away.”

“But, what if—”

“Mattie.” She interrupts. “We’re already in this shit. We just have to adapt. Okay? Staying put is a very bad idea.”

She tugs on his sleeve and he gives in. He reluctantly follows her with a deep, nervous breath.

They make their way carefully forward, beginning to arc around the scene up ahead at a generous distance. Soon they can see the glow of torches. The voices have risen into angry, excited shouts and Amelia can now hear a repeated thudding noise, like something banging hard on something else.

Just what are they doing over there?

A little farther and they’re close enough to hear what some of the group is saying. The knocking has increased in intensity. Amelia can barely see the outline of a house through the gaps in the trees, stark black against the glowing torches behind it.

“It’s your turn!” some of the cats yell together.

“The chief drew your name!!” One shouts. “It’s time to serve your village!”

“Would you have the rest of us starve?!” Another shouts.

What…?

Even from a distance, Amelia can feel a frenzied rush of emotions rise from the cats on the other side of the house and it sends a wholly unpleasant chill up her spine.

The loud banging noise suddenly gives way to a loud _CRACK_. Amelia and Mattie both jump and she can feel his hand suddenly clamping onto her arm. He’s trembling slightly and walks faster.

The shouts rise even louder. She can tell some of them have rushed into the house by the muffled quality of their voices. They’ve broken the door down…

Then there’s a blood curdling scream. Scuffling noises.

“NO!” a sobbing voice reaches her, “Please!! Don’t take him!!!”

Amelia’s breath hitches. She freezes. She starts to turn back—

Mattie grabs her suddenly around the waist, lifts her over his shoulder and _sprints_. Amelia is too shocked to react. She can see the house and the glowing firelight over Mattie’s shoulder, can still hear that painful screaming over the roar of cats and the rushing sound in her ears. Her mind has gone otherwise blank as the scene disappears from her view.

★

An immeasurable amount of time and distance later, Mattie’s footsteps finally slow to a stop. He’s breathing very heavily, entirely out of breath; he sets Amelia on her feet before sitting against a tree to catch it.

Amelia stands stock still, unable to fully process the situation. That scream replays in her mind over and over.

There had been more than one cat in that house. The group was going to take one of them. Were they going to leave the other behind? The one who’s voice conveyed how painful it was to be separated from their companion. What were they going to do to the one they took? It kind of sounded like…

Most overwhelming of all, though, was a realization about herself. She had never heard anyone scream like that. If Mattie hadn’t grabbed her when he did, she would have rushed right into that mob. To do what…? Something inside her had reacted viscerally to that bloody call for mercy and now that same thing deeply regrets not having helped those two, complete strangers.

She turns slowly to look at her brother who has taken his coat off and is sweating heavily, still trying to catch his breath. Blankly, Amelia hands her waterskin to him. He takes it automatically and drinks from it deeply.

He had reacted, too, Amelia realizes, by getting the two of them out of there. Logically speaking, running into it would have been seriously bad news. Had Mattie known somehow what Amelia was about to do? Before even she knew?

They don’t speak. Despite the proliferating thoughts and emotions running through her mind, Amelia can’t think of anything worth saying, and they are still in the middle of marked land. Silently, Amelia sits beside her brother. She is going to need a rest, too.

★

When Mattie’s breath evens out and the color returns to both their faces, the twins set off again.

They walk at a fast pace, both unwilling to stick around here any longer than they have to. Amelia is concerned that the nervous energy they’re exuding will attract unwanted attention, but they’re beyond composure just now.

Mattie’s faintly trembling hand grabs hers. She looks up at him. He’s wary but his pace hasn’t changed, and he continues to look ahead. Does he sense something? She can’t tell.

Then, a familiar scent wafts by and the relief it gives her is powerful. Water. _Fresh_ water! They must be near that stream shed seen on the map. The one that flows toward Ransen!

Sure enough, Amelia can now hear the water flowing across their path some distance ahead. She tightens her own grip on Mattie’s hand and begins to jog. Mattie follows suit.

Soon, they break through the tree line and she can see it; the bank up ahead and the rushing water. It’s wide and appears to be fairly deep, not something that can be waded through, at any rate. That’s fine, all they need to do is follow it east.

Amelia’s arm jerks her backward. Mattie’s stopped running suddenly. She turns around, confused.

“What—?” She whispers, but Mattie is staring off to their right, looking like he’s seen a ghost.

“That. That’s the thing that’s been following us….” Mattie mutters to her. She follows his gaze, and her heart nearly stops.

It’s… a shadow. A very solid, very black shadow, standing— yes _standing_ — mere paces away from them.

Amelia breaks into a cold sweat. She looks around, begging for her eyes to be playing tricks on her, but there doesn’t seem to be anything around that would cause such a… cat-shaped, blacker-than-anything void out in the middle of this small clearing. It has no features beyond its edges, no light reflecting off it to give it any distinction. Its tail is too sharp, and its ears aren’t quite positioned right…

“What is it?” Amelia asks under her shaky breath. She can feel the chills creeping back up her spine. “If-if that’s a g-ghost, I swear—”

- _snap_ -

Both Mattie and Amelia’s heads whip back around to face the tree line.

Shit! The village cats!

They’re oozing out of the tree line, wild looking eyes on Amelia and Mattie only, as if they don’t even notice the haunting black void… _thing_ before them.

 _Hungry_ _… Eat…_ something seems to say in the back of their minds.

Several of the cats are wielding weapons and growling aggressively. The eerie glint in their eyes reminds Amelia of the scene they’d passed by earlier.

A stout cat nearest them raises his sword to point at the both of them in turn.

“Kill the tom, there’ll be more fresh meat tonight.” he says, “The queen goes to the chief. If anyone harms her, we won’t wait until next week for your sacrifice. Understood?”

There are a number of assenting shouts and several of them spring forward to attack.

“Em!” She hears Mattie’s voice and she snaps out of her daze long enough to act on reflex. She fumbles with the pouch at her side to grab her harmonica.

Shit! _SHIT!_ That god damned, ghosty whatever and all these weird creeps have her so flustered! She can feel her heart racing so fast she could faint.

But its too late for the harmonica, they’re too far outnumbered. She pulls her dagger up just in time to fend off an unarmed cat and jump backward to dodge another.

“Mattie!?” She looks around, realizing he’s no longer beside her. She sees him several paces away fighting off three opponents.

 _Kill_ _… eat… Food… hungry…_

The crazed frenzy these cats are in heightens once more. Two of them knock into each other as she dodges them, but instead of regrouping to follow her, they attack one another.

“Wha—!?” She catches the blade of another cat charging at her with her dagger. His eyes are wide and unfocused, and drool is dripping heavily from his mouth. All the hair and fur on Amelia’s body stands on end as she kicks him into the dirt. “EUGH!”

Mattie… Gotta get to Mattie… Gotta get harmonica. She dodges another cat and sidesteps two more who are… they… they’re biting each other?! Like, they’re tearing the… the flesh off of…of…

Amelia retches suddenly and stumbles into something solid. Shaking violently, she looks up.

“EMMA!!” Mattie’s scream is the last thing she hears before she blacks out.

★

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! I've started to post up in-progress chunks of the chapter I'm working on to the tumblr page that I made for this project. :D So If you're interested in seeing some WIP and/or drafty content, probably some doodles and drawings I won't put up here, and random babbling about the fic, please visit https://lamentalia.tumblr.com/
> 
> Thanks! Crit/Comments welcome!!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shortie! Gonna be lots of recycled text again in this one.

★

Distant, indistinct music reaches Amelia’s senses before anything else. She can feel a cold surface beneath her. It is not soil or grass or stone…

The memory of what had just transpired floods back to her and her eyes snap open, wide with fright.

“Mattie!!” she shouts, lifting her head and turning about to search for her brother. She sees nothing but darkness.

She rolls onto her stomach and her panic intensifies when she sees nothing beneath her but space. Its like looking into the night sky but with only a few, dim, cloud-like illuminations instead of stars. She can feel a surface, but she cannot see it.

Shakily climbing onto her hands and knees, she turns her head side to side, searching for Mattie. Or for anything, really.

Where is she? What’s happened? And where the hell is Mattie??

She spots the only other object occupying this space with her. It is a large, shapeless… _thing_ floating only a short distance from her. However, she can’t make out much in the dimness. It appears to be inanimate, whatever it is.

_…Thump Thump…_

Amelia jumps at the sound of a heartbeat, loud, as if it were inside her own ears. It is not hers. She can feel her own heart beating much harder and faster than that.

_…Thump Thump…_

Amelia sits back on her heels looking around again for the heartbeat’s origin. Suddenly she is blinded by intense, green light. She shields her eyes with her arm and tries to blink through it to see what has happened. After a moment she can see that a green flame has erupted near the shapeless object, which turns out to be a large stone.

She’s trying to identify a vague, dark shape within the flame when she feels something cold and smooth slithering up her arm. Before she can react to it, however, it has coiled across the back of her neck and is staring her straight in the eyes. Immediately she notices that its right eye is darker than its left… It’s a snake. A very vivid, green one.

Amelia is not afraid of snakes, in fact she rather likes them, but this is _not_ normal snake behavior. This whole situation is off the walls, really, she’s starting to think she’s dreaming despite her lucidity. Was everything that had happened earlier just a dream, too? How much of it? Has she slipped into another one? Maybe, if she wakes up… she’ll be safe at home with Mattie…

_“Do you feel it?”_

Her thoughts are interrupted by a disembodied voice. It is smooth and firm and it echoes out from nowhere in particular. The snake stares at her with its strange eyes like it’s the one asking.

 _“Do you feel it? Overflowing from my scales, my tongue, my eyes, my heartbeat.”_ The voice continues. Though articulate, its vowels stretch languidly, and it only lightly touches its “r’s”. The sound is peculiarly pleasant. _“My existence. Do you feel it?”_

Amelia is unsure whether to address the snake or not. It seems absurd, but then again, what about this scenario isn’t? She responds slowly. “I, um… what am I supposed to feel?”

A small chuckle.

 _“Me, love. Do pay attention.”_ The voice replies with the slightest hint of amusement. _“Answer me. What am I to you? What do you feel?”_

The snake breaks eye contact and lowers itself from her neck, over her bust, and down to coil around her middle. Immediately a sharp pain spikes in her stomach and she doubles over with a sharp gasp. At first she thinks that the snake has bitten her, but quickly recognizes this familiar ache. An ache like what she felt when their food started to run out last winter.

She is hungry. Hungrier than she’s ever been. It’s as though a deep, bottomless hole is opening up somewhere within her. Would only food really sate her hunger? No, she needs more than that; she needs… water, knowledge, strength, touch… _anything_ that might fill this hollow ache.

_“Answer me.”_

She barely registers the voice echoing over the desperate longing that has spread up through her chest. The feeling is unendurable… she will not survive it if she can’t…

Amelia can feel the snake slithering back up to her breast. Groaning, she looks down at it, prepared to rip it away from herself, when she notices that an awful, black hole has opened above her breast down to her abdomen. No wound, no viscera, just cold, black nothing.

As she stares, frozen in shock, the snake slithers into the gaping hole as if to search inside. The pain and emptiness of her hunger intensifies. Instinctively she grabs at the snake’s tail to pull it out, but it slips through her grip easily. What can she do…? There is nothing here… nothing to satisfy her overwhelming craving. She falls forward onto her elbows

The snake retrieves its head from her chest and slithers back up her neck to look her in the eyes once more. Its eerie right eye draws her into it, like an endless vacuum.

Choose:

[The impulse to consume is overpowering.]

[The snake’s eye is a chilling void.]

The thought only touches the surface of her mind before the snake releases her gaze. It crawls back into the hole in her chest and the deep, tortuous hollow remains, unrelenting. And now she is suffocating, her breaths are deep and yet they do not fill her lungs… Her chest squeezes painfully… If she can’t— …she’ll die….!

_“Does it hurt, love? Is it unbearable? Or perhaps irresistible? You cannot decide, can you?”_

Amelia lets out a strangled cry. Her forehead connects with the invisible surface beneath her as she bends forward again, unable to support herself. She cards her fingers through her hair and grips tight. She is so cold… and so, so empty…

★

_-gasp-_

_Cold_ _… so cold…_

Amelia shivers violently. Her eyes fly open and she inhales a long, sharp breath.

Light filters through the trees that surround her. She is lying on a muddy forest floor. She is soaking wet and freezing cold. She can hear rushing water and… rapid crunching? A thud somewhere near her.

Was all that a dream, after all? Has she woken up? Where is she? Her mind swirls with recent, vivid memories and emotions that she is too delirious to organize. She is unable to process her surroundings.

Eventually she becomes aware of a shadow looming over her, but she has no energy to panic. Her thoughts remain stubbornly lost.

She can hear a frantic voice. Could it be…?

“…Mattie…?” she croaks.

Amelia’s face turns involuntarily, and she realizes, slowly, that someone has turned her head to face up at the forest canopy. Her swimming eyes finally settle upon a blurry figure above her. She sees dark hair and light-colored ears… not Mattie… she closes her eyes for a moment.

“—ey! Hey! Stay with me, come on!” She begins to make out his words. She feels her head lift from the ground. “Come on, bella, wake up, wake up!”

The voice is deep, melodic and earnest. … It is not Mattie.

“… Mattie… where…” she mutters through chattering teeth. If she isn’t waking up at home, she doesn’t know which of her memories truly occurred and which were only bad dreams…. Mattie should be close, though. She needs to get to him. To make sure he’s alright.

“That’s right, hold on, I’ll get you somewhere safe.” The voice says, still urgent but gentler. She feels herself jostling; hands wedge underneath her back and legs and lift her from the ground. And now she’s moving. The body beside her is warm. She instinctively turns her freezing face into it.

Then everything fades away again.

★

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> visit lamentalia.tumblr.com for drafts, wips, doodles and illustrations! :D Come say hi~!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you [flamaflavio](https://flamaflavio.tumblr.com/) for the help with Italian! :3 You are much appreciated!
> 
> *note to self: try to stop posting stuff in the middle of the night, you forget important things.*

★

Consciousness returns to Amelia slowly. She is achy and heavy and shrouded in something soft and warm. Something cool brushes her face and it spurs a memory from long ago of a time when Mama was still alive; when she would sit by Amelia and Mattie’s bed while they were sick.

Amelia misses hearing her voice so much, it hurts.

An unfamiliar, floral smell pulls her out of her reverie, and she opens her eyes to find a kind looking face smiling down at her.

“Ah, she is awake!”

Amelia blinks up at the unfamiliar face and, she can’t help but notice, the very large bust beside her. She stares, at a total loss for how to react. Aside from her mother, she’s never met another molly cat before. Her hair is short and pale, and her ears are small and roundish, covered in long, white fur, that is not unlike Amelia’s.

“Tell me dear, how do you feel?” the cat asks in an unfamiliar, lilting accent, as she fussily adjusts and smooths Amelia’s covers. Which leads Amelia to her next discovery: she is in a bed. In a room? With… Oh! A window! The interior of the room is constructed primarily from wood, but the window-side wall appears to be of the same Two-Cane’s stone that her house is made of. Finally, she can see that there is a third cat in the room standing behind the first; it’s another female cat with a sharp gaze. Her hair is much longer but her coloring is quite similar to the smiling cat’s. Amelia feels uncharacteristically shy in their presence.

“Oh, of course! You must be confused.” The kindly molly continues easily when Amelia fails to answer. “My name is Yekaterina and this is my sister, Natayla. We take care of you since you arrived. You were in such terrible condition!”

“I have been making sure you are safe, Katyusha.” Natalya says as though offended that her intentions have been misconstrued as kindness.

“Do not be silly, Natasha, we are all safe here.” Says, er, Katyusha? Natalya’s (Natasha’s?) expression goes slightly flat at her sister’s assurance. Her ears, which had been held back up to this point, flicker in annoyance as the tension she’d created melts away slightly. Apparently, her meaning hadn’t been understood. Amelia chooses to let it go, too, as she’s a little too spacey to be buying needless fights right now. The kind-faced cat picks up a cup of water from a side table and offers it to Amelia, who sits up and takes it gratefully, downing it in one go.

“Thanks,” Amelia says after catching most of her breath. “… Yekata— um…”

“Oh, call me Katya, dear. Here everyone does.”

“Thank you, Katya…” And because she feels awkward without addressing the other cat in the room, even if she’s not here to be friendly, Amelia says, “Thank you, Natalya.”

Natalya looks away disinterestedly but Katya smiles.

“I’m Amelia. Um… Where am I?”

“Amelia. It is nice to meet you.” Katya says warmly. “We call this place ‘Sanctuary.’ It is very safe place, hiding south of Ransen. Tell me, how did you come to be in river?”

Amelia’s memory is such a haze right now, she can hardly make sense of anything. River? Did something like that happen? Why in the world is she south of Ransen? When was she in a riv—

—SLAM—

Amelia and Katya both flinch at the sound of a slamming door coming from somewhere outside the room. She can hear indistinct, muffled shouts and stomping footsteps growing closer. Katya huffs quietly and Amelia glances at her, looking to measure the possibility of approaching danger through her expression. Apparently, there is none. Katya smiles wryly, shaking her head. Natalya merely rolls her eyes.

The door to the room rattles. The voice has quieted into a ranting hiss as it swings open to reveal a cat backing into the room, carrying something large and heavy in both arms.

_“— uscire per dieci cazzo di minuti senza che questo posto vada a puttane! Non posso credere che abbia lasciato—”_

That is definitely not a language Amelia understands.

After taking a step or two into the room the new cat cuts off mid-tirade and freezes when he looks up from the pile of things in his arms to lock eyes with Amelia. For a long moment no one moves or says anything. He looks startled, donning an expression that probably matches the one Amelia’s wearing. The sharp change in his demeanor would probably have made Amelia laugh if she weren’t so out of it. As it happens, all she can do is stare blankly at the intruder.

“You’re awake.” He says, lamely. Amelia blinks, watching him step slowly backward to stand in front of the door frame. His eyes swim around the room for half of a moment as he stands there trying not to look flustered. “Don’t worry, I’ll stay by the door.”

“Okay?” Amelia responds, not entirely sure why she would be worried. She’d been startled, yes, but after years of sizing up opponents, she can see that this cat is clearly more defense than offense. Amelia glances back to Katya when she hears quiet giggling. She’s hiding a smile behind her hand politely and attempting to stifle her laughing. The tom’s face flushes, and he clears his throat before continuing.

“I found these upriver.” He holds up the lump in his arms and Amelia realizes that he’s carrying her coat and her pack! “They had your scent, so I brought them for you. I’ll uh… put them here.”

He sets Amelia’s belongings on a chair placed near the door. It sure is nice of him to bring her stuff in.

“Oh! Wow. Thank you.” Amelia says. Huh… Why didn’t she have them on her in the first place?

“Amelia, this is Lovino.” Katya says cheerfully gesturing to Lovino and then back to Amelia. “He found you this morning in nearby river and brought you here. Lovi, she is Amelia.”

“I was in a river…?” Amelia says distractedly. Ah, right, they had just been talking about that.

“Well, Amelia, you were soaking wet and freezing cold when I found you lying beside it. I thought you must have been in it for a while.” Lovino explains. “How are you doing?”

That’s… a good question. She hasn’t quite worked that out yet. Amelia urges her stalling thoughts to focus on her body signals. Aside from full body aches and what feels like several, stinging scratches and bruises, she can feel a twisted ankle and a sharp pain in her back. It’s weird that she can’t remember how she got this way…

“Well… I’ve been better. I should be fine after I get some rest. Um… Thank you for taking me in.” Amelia rubs her eyes, willing the fog to lift from her mind. She vaguely remembers being very cold. Remembers his voice; low and melodic, worried and urgent. Amelia takes a closer look at her rescuer. He is probably close to Mattie’s height, shoulders not quite as broad, but he looks older and more filled out. She can see a shortish tail waving curiously behind his legs and he’s got a persistent furrow in his brow and a cautious air about him. By the sound of it, this stranger may have saved her life.

“Wow… I really owe you one, huh?” She murmurs, coming to realize the gravity of the situation.

Lovino repels the thought with a wave of his hand and a shake of his head and Amelia finds herself moved by the gesture.

“You owe nothing, and you’re welcome to stay here.” He says, turning to leave. He nods to the other two. “Thanks for tending to her, Katya, …Natalya. Dinner will be ready in about an hour.”

And with that he slips out, closing the door behind him. Amelia returns her thoughts to retracing her memories… She and Mattie had… left home. Right. Then they… got caught up in that business with the village cats…

Amelia’s dawning horror comes with a flood of vivid, terrible memories. Of awful cats attacking, of that creepy nightmare with the snake, and—

“Shit! Katya,” Amelia turns to her abruptly, forgetting about the injured muscles in her back for a moment. She winces while Katya stares at her, mouth open. It seems Amelia hadn’t noticed that she’d been talking. Oops. “Oh, sorry! But uh. My brother, Mattie. How is he? Is he in another room around here?”

“Your… brother?” Katya says, raising her eyebrows and looking back to Natalya in confusion. A weird expression flashes across Natalya’s face before settling back into disinterest and she responds.

“You are the only one Lovino brought here. He did not mention seeing anyone else.”

It looks like Natalya is going to continue but Amelia has gotten out of bed, onto her feet and she’s out the door before she can realize that she’s really not all that stable on them right now.

“Lovino!” She calls down the hallway outside while stumbling into the wall on her right. Lovino is farther up but he seems to have heard her; he’s turned back toward her looking halfway incredulous. Amelia slides ahead a few steps using the wall for support. Damned ankle.

“Woah! Hey, stop!” Lovino says dashing back to her. He takes hold of her shoulders to help steady her before she can fall on her face. “You need to lay down or you’re going to make that worse.”

“Did you see anyone else out there when you found me?” Amelia grabs onto his arms, both for balance and to ensure that he’s listening to her carefully. “Was there any sign of a tom cat?”

Maybe she sounds a little desperate or scared because Lovino stops trying to nudge her back into the room and looks her directly in the eyes, deadly serious.

“Did he hurt you? Are you being followed?”

Amelia blinks in surprise before shaking her head.

“What? No! No. He’s my brother. I was traveling with him, but we were attacked and that’s kind of the last thing… I remember…” She trails off at the telling lack of recognition in Lovino’s expression. Amelia’s breath speeds up and her chest tightens painfully. She always knows where Mattie is. She has always known where she could find him when she needed to. And now she can’t. She feels lightheaded.

“Lovi, over here!” Amelia hears from somewhere. Another pair of arms supports her left side while Lovino takes over her right. Other murmuring voices trickle in around her and she vaguely registers that several faces have poked out of the doors that line the hallway. It’s making her feel awfully claustrophobic. The tightness in her chest continues tightening.

“Calm down, Amelia.” Lovino says maneuvering her back through the door of the bedroom. “Breathe. Sit and tell us what happened.”

★

After a few minutes sitting back on the bed and another two cupfuls of water, Amelia feels more like herself again. Katya explains that sometimes stress can cause the _horrible feeling of imminent death_ that Amelia had just experienced and it’s supposedly not all that uncommon. Amelia wouldn't believe it if it hadn't just happened to her. Still, Mattie's absence is troubling in a way she's never had to consider before.

Lovino has pulled the chair by the door up to the side of the bed and Katya has returned to her seat on the other side of it. Natalya has taken to sitting in the open window, watching nothing in particular happen outside.

"Better?" Katya asks, taking the empty cup back from Amelia.

"Yeah... Thanks." Amelia replies unable to hide her embarrassment. Thankfully Lovino restarts the conversation before the silence drags on too long.

"You were saying that you and your brother were attacked?" he says and Amelia nods, latching on to the subject.

"Yeah. We were traveling to Ransen and we had to sneak through some unfriendly territory. We almost got through it, but someone must have spotted us because a whole bunch of cats came out at us when we hit the river up there… maybe I fell in somehow?"

"Where did this happen?"

"You know the village set up at the foot of the mountains up in the northwest?"

Instead of rising, Lovino’s eyebrows fall even farther and his eyes widen below them.

"Karo? Where the hell were you coming from that you needed to go through Karo to get to Ransen?"

" Uh... farther north of there?"

"North??” Lovino’s bafflement is starting to look a bit like anger. “There's nothing north of Karo except cursed lands! What were you even doing up there!?” Amelia returns a confused gaze of her own. This is the first time she’s ever heard such a thing about her birthplace! She blinks a couple of times, waiting to see if he’s being serious but no one’s laughing.

"...Well, that's where our home is." Amelia says slowly. “Uh. Was, I guess. We grew up near the coast there, but we had to leave because of the Void.” Lovino seems to be unable to form a response to this, with his mouth hanging open as it is, so Katya takes the opportunity to join in the conversation.

“I do not know this place. What is it that make these lands cursed?” She asks Amelia, who can only return a shrug. If it’s cursed, it’s nothing she knows about. Lovino takes a few short moments to process before he continues.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t realize anyone lived up there.” He looks mildly ashamed of himself for insulting her homeland and Amelia smiles at him, appreciating the sentiment. “I admit, I’ve only heard rumors about it, but they’re widely believed. Cats don’t come and go there very often.”

“Nah, you’re not totally wrong. As far as I know, Mattie and I were the only ones living up there and this is the first time we’ve been so far away from it. We didn’t exactly get a lot of visitors, either.” The thought of rumors about her home being widespread tickles something curious inside her. “Why do cats think it’s cursed?”

“Something about a witch living there who cursed it to be overrun with monsters in order to keep cats out.” Lovino replies, shrugging. “So much for that story, I guess.”

“Oh. Well, I don’t know about a witch, but there’s plenty of monsters up there! Even though there were no other cats near our territory, Mattie and I still had to keep up regular patrols just to keep their numbers in line.” Amelia says with a grin. Proud memories of her and her brother’s exploits bubble up in her heart. This time both Katya _and_ Lovino stare at her slack jawed. Which is all well and good, but she’s now reminded that her first priority is figuring out how to find Mattie. “Yeah, so… anyway. The Void cut off a direct route to Ransen and forced us to pass through… Karo, was it? Something was really… off about those cats, and there was… _something_ there.”

Amelia remembers the chills she felt from the eerie, feral energy the cats exuded, the heart-stopping vision of absolute blackness forming the outline of a standing body. A ghost of those chills raises the hair on her neck and arms. Lovino leans forward, putting his elbows on his knees.

“I’m aware of the situation up there.” He says, as if relieving Amelia of the necessity of explaining the horror she witnessed. She is grateful for it and she nods at him to show it. Katya looks curious but Lovino continues before she can question it. “So, you and your brother crossed through their territories, made it to the river and then you were attacked. What else?”

Amelia sighs, looking down into her lap. She curls her tail around herself and takes hold of it. (It’s tangled, she notices. She’ll have to brush it tonight.) “I don’t know.” She says finally. “I remember trying to get back to Mattie’s side after they separated us, but then I bumped into something… and then I blacked out.”

A concerned look crosses Katya’s face. “Excuse me, dear.” She says and leans across the bed to gently hold Amelia’s face and run her other hand through Amelia’s hair and over her scalp. Amelia holds very still, unsure of what this is about, but Katya finishes her inspection soon enough. “Hm. As I thought, there is nothing. It is strange that this would happen if you have no head injury.”

“Really?” Amelia looks up at Katya, surprised.

“Katya knows a lot about injuries and healing.” Lovino explains before pressing on. “So, you don’t remember anything else?”

“No.” Amelia shakes her head. “I mean. I had a nightmare after that, but when I woke up… well, I saw _you_ and then immediately conked out again, but then I woke up here and that’s all I’ve got. If it wasn’t Mattie that got me out of there, I have no idea how else I could have…”

Amelia watches as Katya retrieves a small book from the side table and writes some notes in it with a stick of charcoal. Amelia’s about to ask what’s up but Lovino speaks up again.

“What can you tell me about your brother? How do you think he would have acted?”

“Oh, uh. Mattie… Matthew, is my twin brother. He’s bigger than me, but we look a lot alike. You know, blond wavy hair, long whitish fur. And marks under his eyes, kinda like yours Katya, except under both eyes.” She points and moves her fingertips across both of her cheeks. “Mattie’s way more rational than I am but I wouldn’t put it past him to do something really stupid to keep me safe.” She doesn’t let this thought sink in too deep. Mattie is definitely alive somewhere, the alternative is simply unthinkable, but she can only hope he’s also ok. What if he’d been knocked out too? What if he ended up in the river like she did? … What if he didn’t?

“Alright.” Lovino says, standing from the chair. “I’ll see what I can find.”

Amelia’s heart leaps. “Oh! I’ll—”

“You should stay here and recover.” He cuts her off firmly, but not unkindly. Amelia frowns at him but she knows that she’s not going anywhere far in her condition. “I know the area and I can cover more ground by myself. Plus, I’ll be able to ask around.”

Lovino turns to leave and Amelia, fumbling, catches his shirt before he’s able to walk away. He stops and looks back at her quizzically.

“Hey, uh…” She says, faltering when she realizes she can’t really put her feelings into words. So instead she pulls him into a hug. She’s still short and sitting and he’s standing so she can’t reach his shoulder for a proper exchange, but his abdomen is good enough, she thinks while bumping her head into it. After a moment of composing herself enough to talk, she mumbles, “Thanks.”

He’s gone very still and rigid and it takes him a long time to reply with a strangled “Yeah. Sure.” He detaches himself carefully, gingerly grasping Amelia’s arms from his back and placing them back at her side. And with that he crab-walks out of the room, closing the door behind him. Amelia watches all this with rapt curiosity, then turns back to Katya.

“Did I do something wrong?” She asks. She’s lived alone with her brother for a long time with only visits from close friends… Maybe she doesn’t actually know all that much about greeting unfamiliar cats.

She sees that Katya is once again trying desperately not to laugh behind her hands. But Katya shakes her head.

“Well… No, I think not.” She says amidst her giggles. “It is rare for cats to be so forthcoming with strangers, but it is not bad. Lovino has, ah… strong personal rule to never touch too familiarly here at Sanctuary.”

“Why’s that?” Amelia asks but Natalya interrupts suddenly. Amelia had forgotten she was even there!

“I will call when dinner is ready, Katyusha.” She says plainly before jumping out the window, not waiting for a response. Amelia gives Katya another uneasy look, but she only holds a knowing gleam in her eye.

“Do not worry, I think she likes you. This is unusual. Very auspicious!” Katya says conspiratorially. Well… she would know her sister best, Amelia guesses, but it sure doesn’t seem that way. Katya continues, “Amelia, you have grown up without village, yes?”

Amelia nods.

“And your parents?”

“Um. I never knew our dad and mom died when we were little.”

“Oh…?” Katya gives her an expression that looks halfway condoling and halfway curious.

“We were lucky, and someone stumbled across us not long after that.” Amelia explains, “He taught us how to survive up there and he visited us a lot after that!”

This seems to explain enough for Katya to continue.

“I see. Then I think you do not have very much contact with other cats. You are aware of Sickness?” Amelia nods again. “And you know that we who have female body are most in danger and our numbers have become so few it threatens entire ribika race, yes?”

This, too, Amelia knows. Gilbert, Ludwig, Tino and Sven have all talked about it and stressed the importance of Amelia keeping herself far away from the Void. In retrospect, it’s not so strange that Mattie developed such a strong complex, but being perfectly healthy and, as Ludwig put it, “absurdly robust,” Amelia never grasped the concept very well. Why the heck should she be more susceptible anyway? Katya seems to pick up on her complicated feelings.

“Well… you may not see effect where you live, but near Ransen we do not talk with strangers. We do not even walk outside where other cats are. It is too dangerous these days.” Katya says. And, as if to counter Amelia’s obvious bafflement, she adds, “It is not this way everywhere, of course! Some villages honor queens as equals to chief because they are precious! It is this way where I am from.”

There are so many concepts here that confuse her, Amelia can’t decide which to respond to first, so she is silent for a moment to process them.

“Wait! I thought Ransen is the only place where the Void hasn’t reached yet. Why would it be dangerous?”

Katya’s expression looks complicated and sort of sad, not unlike the one Mattie had when he’d come to suggest they leave home.

“Amelia, most cats are good, normal cats. Lovino is unusually good cat. He helps us stay hidden here in safe place, far from Void and Sickness. But some cats are… ah… They want to hurt other cats.” Amelia nods. She has dispatched a handful of these. “Since Ransen is safe from Void, many, many cats gather together. When many cats gather, bad cats also gather and cause more trouble. And, since females are precious, we are favored target for bad cats who want profit. Does this make sense?”

“Ohh, ok.” Amelia says, finally picking up the point Katya is trying to make. “So, since there are so many cats in Ransen, it’s more dangerous because there are more jerks hanging around. I guess it’s harder to fight all of them if they’re all working together?”

“Yes!” Katya says, smiling once again. “Maybe they do not _all_ work together, but that is gist of problem we have. This is why we stay in Sanctuary. It is also why we work hard to keep secret. Will you help us to keep our Sanctuary secret, Amelia?”

Amelia is surprised at how slow she’s been to catch on.

“Oh, gosh, of course!” She gushes just a bit, accidentally. “I wouldn’t let any bad guys anywhere near such an important place!”

“I am glad to hear it.” Katya says. “We can begin with this. I will explain to you important information about Sanctuary, yes?”

★

After that, Katya began to explain how this two-cane’s ruin is hidden behind a waterfall and an ancient, half-collapsed sinkhole, and that it belongs to Lovino and his brother Feliciano. (Katya says that Feliciano is busy cooking dinner and she will be meeting him and the rest of the house soon enough. And the rest of the house is _all female!!)_

Years ago, when Lovino and Feliciano learned about the increased breakouts of the Sickness, they went looking for some kitten-hood molly friends of theirs to make sure they were ok. This evolved into taking in any molly cats, or “queens,” who wanted shelter. Amelia deduces from context that “queen” does not refer to royalty but seems to be a term specifically for an adult female cat. It is not a meaning she’d ever read in any of her books, at least not that she remembers, and certainly not one she’d heard in conversation before now.

Later, the brothers took in younger mollies, too, when the population started to plummet, and it became dangerous for them simply by virtue of being a “rarity.” Amelia is not much of a collector, but Mattie is, so she’s familiar with the concept. She’s not sure why someone would want to kidnap and fight over rare things (and cats!?) just to have them, but she knows it happens and it is irksome to say the least! Do they really not understand the inconvenience it puts on a fellow cat??

She supposes that’s what all those bounty hunters were on about when they got a look at her back home. She knew they were up to no good to begin with, but now that she knows the context, Amelia’s quite sure she’ll be coming down a lot harder on these adversaries in future.

It isn’t much longer before they hear a knock at the door.

“Come in!” Katya calls. The door opens to reveal a fairly harassed looking Natalya and two new cats looking in over her shoulders with curious excitement.

“Katyusha, I am collecting you. These two insisted on bringing this one’s dinner to her room. They will keep her company, so you should come with me and rest.”

“Oh…!” Katya looks surprised and glances at Amelia, but Amelia has just realized that Katya must have been on alert for a good portion of the day while taking care of her. She gives Katya a nod and a smile. “All right then. I will be back to check on you later, Amelia. Enjoy your dinner!”

Amelia watches as Katya follows Natalya and sees that there are even more curious faces lingering outside her door. Most of them look so much… softer (like Katya and Natalya, like her own reflection in a pool of water) than she’s used to seeing.

“No way, you’re gonna, like, leave without dishing?” Amelia hears from the hallway.

“Yes.” Replies Natalya’s dangerous voice before it leaves the doorway.

One of the cats, who had sidled in past Natalya, walks over to Amelia carrying a tray of something steaming.

“Good evening! Lovi tells me your name is Amelia?” The cat says with an accent like Lovino’s, though his demeanor is much more buoyant. Amelia sees a reddish-brown shade of hair and a familiar looking flyaway curl. He looks so much like Lovino it’s hard to mistake him. This must be Feliciano, she thinks, remembering her conversation with Katya.

“Yup!” Amelia says. The cat places the bed-tray beside her, and her eyes nearly fall out of their sockets. “Wuh-WOW—” she covers her mouth (she sort of accidentally shouted, there.)

“This is for me…?” Is all she can say. She’s never seen such a meal in her life, and the _aroma._ Meat and sauce and vegetables and things she’s never even seen before. It’s been so long since Mattie and she had had anything more than nuts and grass and dried fruit to eat that seeing and smelling something so scandalously appetizing is actually making her eyes water, not to speak of her mouth. Oh… Oh, she wishes Mattie were here…

Amelia sniffs and looks back up through blurry eyes. The second cat, a tall blonde with green eyes, must have closed the door to the room and come to stand with the first. Amelia sees the excited, conspiratorial smiles slipping off of both their faces as they realize she is crying.

“Ooohh nooo, I’m sorry! Do you not like pasta??” Says Feliciano, waving his hands about in distress. “No, that can’t be right, maybe you don’t eat meat? It’s not so popular these days…” Amelia shakes her head and rubs her eyes, unable to respond. The second cat pats Feliciano on the head.

“Feli, don’t worry, I’m sure she likes it.” She says, “Amelia, take your time. My name is Emmaline; this is Feliciano.” She gestures to him. “We can leave you be if you need some time to yourself?”

“No…!” She sniffs loudly and shakes her head again. That’s probably the last thing she wants right now. She takes a couple of deep breaths. “No… I’m ok.”

Emmaline sits down in the chair Lovino abandoned over an hour ago and Feliciano sits on the side of the bed. He seems to be a lot more comfortable here than his brother was.

“Then, you should eat. You will be _wonderful_.” Emmaline says, lifting the tray and setting it across Amelia’s lap. Feliciano picks up the fork and hands it to her.

“I promise it is very good! Lovino made the sauce tonight!”

Amelia holds the fork for a moment, feeling as though their eyes are watching her rather closely, but she is, in fact, starving, and she’s never turned down a meal before, regardless of how spectacular it is. She digs in.

It takes another full minute or two before she stops crying again.

★

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yaay, I like how this turned out! >w<
> 
> Remember to check out my lamento @ tumlbr page for WIPs, sketches, trivia, conversations, illustrations, etc, etc. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Critique and comments welcome!


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